
Selected Media
TALKS (Videos, Interviews, Podcasts)
• Pandemic as Portal: A Conversation on Transformation & Liberation, April 2020
Join us for a timely conversation - Pandemic As Portal - with wisdom teacher & healer Brenda Salgado,
movement strategist & community builder Taj James, and Thrive co-hosts Bethsaida Ruiz and Joshua
Gorman. We are living in a moment of profound change and uncertainty, the end of a great cycle and the
opening of a space for that which is to come. As beloved Arundhati Roy has named it, the pandemic is a
portal to the next world. How do we bear witness to all that is unfolding, holding space together for our
grief and struggles, and learning the lessons of interconnectedness that this time of transition is
teaching us? How can we engage in composting old patterns and structures, liberating new forms and
possibilities, and supporting the deep and transformative potential of these times? This conversation is
part of Medicine for These Times, an online series by Thrive East Bay to nourish our bodies, hearts,
minds and spirits as we navigate the Corona crisis. (Our theme is inspired by Arundhati Roy's widely
read essay The Pandemic Is A Portal.)
• {ENCORE} Curanderismo, Prophecy & Mindfulness With Brenda Salgado, May 2019
This week we are rebroadcasting our episode with Brenda Salgado on Curanderismo, Prophecy &
Mindfulness, originally aired in May of 2019. Brenda and Venessa’s conversation explores curanderismo
and indigenous prophecy about our current times and the shift in consciousness we are experiencing.
This episode remains timely as we collectively face a global pandemic and unprecedented challenges
as well as opportunities for change and healing. As we reflected back in 2019, mindfulness practice
can help you cultivate more inner power, peace, dignity and grace as well as navigate challenges and
difficulties with more clarity and courage in this current time of shift.
• Herbal Highway Interview, Answering the Call of Our Ancestors, March 2020
Guest host Renée Camila speaks with Nicaraguan-American healer and teacher Brenda Salgado
about her personal journey of reconnecting with traditional medicine and the work she does in
building community around ancestral healing.
• Awakin Call: Midwifing the Prophecy of an Earth-Based Feminine Consciousness, April 2018
Brenda Salgado speaks with the Awakin community on the topic of mid-wifing the prophecy of an
Earth-based feminine consciousness, and how we are shifting from an eagle way of being --
masculine, mind centred, industrial to one of the condor -- feminine, heart-centred, intuitive
and earth-connected.
• Wild Woman School: Self Care for Community Healers and Activists
Serving others in our community is a gift, and we can be of highest service when we practice self-care
in individual and communal ways as an act of reclaiming healing justice. This also allows us to model for
others what purpose rooted in a commitment to wellness and healthy power can look like. As we serve,
we may encounter others in extreme distress, pain, and powerlessness, and we may also be confused
about how to provide support while setting healthy boundaries when they are needed. Join Brenda as
we learn about various practices that can allow us to make a positive impact for others and ourselves,
from a place of self-care, awareness, energetic clarity, presence and power. (donation to access)
• Interview for Sana, Sana Podcast, Full Circle Collective, Chicago IL, January 2018
Summer has been on volume 10 for the tocayas! We're glad to be back for episode 8 where we talk
about trips to the doctor, check in with our bodies, and get a crash course on mindfulness for beginners
thanks to the wisdom of Bay Area's Brenda Salgado. Dr. Troy Harden joins us in our Colita de Rana corner.
• MoonWise podcast interviewee: On the Radical Shift from Mind to Heart, August 2017
• Conversation Catalyst, Cultivating Community Through Trust, Friday CAFÉ, February 2017
At our core, we all want the capacity to flourish, feel seen and be heard. Building and sustaining
collaborative relationships through trust can provide a rich foundation for healthy partnerships with
families and communities. Join us for a conversation about research on trust and how indigenous
teachings can expand our thinking about co-creating trust with families.
• Wisdom Women: Step into the Circle Podcast with Brenda Salgado, February 2017
In this episode, our host Leslie Frame-Crowley, interviews WisdomWomen Founding Member,
Brenda Salgado, who shares about her path as healer, how her deep knowledge of indigenous wisdom
were cultivated, and her radical dream for a gift-based retreat center for healers. Brenda’s shares on
her connection to intuition as guide and her deep reverence for relationship – to one another and
to the natural world.
• Commencement Speaker, Naropa University May 2016
Brenda Salgado, a first generation Nicaraguan-American, speaks on the indigenous and cultural values
that have led her to spiritual, social justice, and nonprofit work. President Charles G. Lief: “At a time of
profound societal and socioeconomic transformations, Brenda’s deep experience and expertise in
community healing, social justice, and alliance building will provide an extraordinary message of
creating a society filled with wholeness and beauty.”
• An Evening with Roshi Joan Halifax and Brenda Salgado, CIIS Public Programs, November 2016
Zen priest, author, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care Roshi Joan Halifax is joined
in conversation by Brenda Salgado about death and dying, Buddhism, and social activism.
• CTZNWELL Mindful Mondays guest speaker, November 2016
Join Kerri Kelly, Brenda Salgado, Vania Kent for discussion on truth, reconciliation and sacred activism.
• Podcast, Secular Buddhist: Creating diverse Sanghas, October 2015
Ted Meissner of Secular Buddhist in conversation with Brenda Salgado and Mushim Ikeda, on
encouraging and creating diversity in our sanghas and spiritual communities.
• Panelist: Movement Building in the Bay Area, UC Berkeley, October 2014
Berkeley Social Welfare Panel Presentation on Movement Building in the Bay Area:
A Panel Discussion on Contemporary Opportunities and Challenges
PRINT MEDIA
• Dumbo Feather, Conversations with Extraordinary People. Brenda Salgado Lets Love In
Issue 57—Healing Ourselves. Feature length article.
• East Bay Express, Self-Care as a Political Act
By Ferron Salniker. August 01, 2018
In the East Bay, women of color and queer people are making alternative health-care practices
accessible and culturally relevant to their communities — as well as a key part of their activism.
• Lion's Roar, New York Times reports on East Bay Meditation Center’s path to inclusion,
By Sam Littlefair. October 5, 2015
Read the full profile at The New York Times, as well as related writing on diversity in mindfulness: Larry Yang’s introductory teaching, “Learn the BASICS of Insight Meditation,” and commentary, “Democracy is Good For Sanghas“; our writing by and about Insight teacher Gina Sharpe, who also appear in the article; and our East Bay Meditation Center archive, including Vivien Shotwell’s profile and our recent post on the center’s upcoming “Power to the Planet” fundraiser. Also, check out our diversity section, for lots more good stuff.
• Lion's Roar, Advice for Difficult Times
Inside November 2015 Shambhala Sun
“Can I Serve Others Without Falling into a Gender Trap?” Brenda Salgado responds.
• New York Times, Finding Path to Inclusion Through Exclusion at an Oakland Meditation Center
By Mark Oppenheimer. October 2, 2015
On East Bay Meditation Center's commitment to diversity and inclusion in their Buddhist community.

Naropa University Commencement Address
In Conversation Roshi Joan Halifax, CIIS Event


Interview with Irvis Orozco of NBC Latino


Dumbo Feather, Brenda Salgado Lets Love In


Photo: New York Times article